1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates, in general, to a tamping tine for a tamping unit of a tamping machine for tamping ballast underneath a railroad track. The invention also relates to a method of producing a tamping tine for tamping ballast underneath a railroad track.
2. Description of the Related Art
U.S. Pat. No. 4,996,925 to Biermann describes a tamping tine of this type. The tine, referred to as a tamping tool in the patent, is provided with a tine pad in the shape of a pad casing adapted to be slipped onto a tine shank. To establish an adequate connection between the pad casing and tine shank, an intermediate layer between the shank and the casing is compressed accordingly. Such a solution has the drawback that the quality of the connection between the pad casing and tine shank depends entirely upon the compressive forces.